A Knock At The Hotel Room Door

I couldn’t breathe.

Marcus stood by the open car door, cradling Ruby effortlessly against his chest.

She was still fast asleep, completely unaware that the nightmare she feared had just become real.

“Put her down,” I said.

My voice shook, but I didn’t step back.

Marcus tilted his head, amused. “Or what? You’ll throw a coffee pot at me?”

He nodded toward my injured arm. “Brielle mentioned you were a little broken tonight.”

“Where is Brielle?” I demanded, stepping between him and the open car door.

“Brielle is currently sitting in a very expensive bar, trying to figure out how to salvage her ruined engagement.” Marcus gently shifted Ruby’s weight. “But she’s no longer my problem.”

“Then why are you taking Ruby?”

June let out a ragged sob behind me.

“Tell her, June,” Marcus said smoothly. “Tell the maid why you opened the front door for me.”

I turned slightly, keeping Marcus in my peripheral vision.

June was shaking, clutching the fabric of her coat.

“I had to,” June wept. “He has the ledgers, Hannah. From Beth’s charity foundation.”

My stomach dropped.

Beth’s charity foundation. The one Nico had poured millions into after she died, to honor her memory.

“June was skimming off the top,” Marcus said casually, as if discussing the weather. “For years. Even when Beth was alive. Brielle found out and told me. We’ve been… supplementing our income with June’s guilt for a while now.”

I stared at the older woman.

Ruby’s grandmother. The woman who was supposed to protect her.

“You sold out your own granddaughter,” I whispered.

“I didn’t want to!” June cried. “He said he just needs to use her as leverage! Just to get Nico to pay him directly, so he can leave the country! He promised he wouldn’t hurt her!”

“I don’t hurt kids,” Marcus said, looking down at Ruby. “I just use them to get the attention of stubborn men. Nico wouldn’t deal with me at the hotel. He’ll deal with me when I have his daughter.”

He moved to put Ruby in the back seat.

I didn’t think.

I lunged forward with my good arm, grabbing the lapel of his trench coat and yanking him backward.

Marcus stumbled, caught off guard by the sudden movement.

He twisted, trying to shake me off, but I held on tightly.

“Let go, you stupid girl!” he snarled.

He shoved me hard in the chest.

I flew backward, hitting the gravel driveway. Pain exploded in my bruised elbow as I tried to break my fall.

Ruby woke up.

She looked around, disoriented, and then she saw me on the ground.

“Hannah!” she screamed.

She started kicking wildly, fighting against Marcus’s grip.

“Stop it!” Marcus hissed, trying to hold onto her flailing legs.

“Let me go!” Ruby cried, thrashing her tiny fists against his face.

She managed to wriggle loose just enough to drop to the ground. She didn’t run toward the house.

She ran to me.

She threw her small arms around my neck, hiding her face in my shoulder, just like she had with Nico at the hotel.

I wrapped my good arm tightly around her back, shielding her body with mine.

Marcus rubbed his cheek where she had hit him. He looked furious.

He stepped toward us, reaching into his pocket.

“I don’t have time for this,” he growled.

Headlights suddenly swept across the driveway.

Tires screeched on the wet pavement.

A black SUV came hurtling through the gates, skidding sideways across the gravel, blocking Marcus’s sedan completely.

Nico threw the driver’s side door open before the vehicle even came to a complete stop.

He didn’t have a gun. He didn’t have a weapon.

He just had pure, terrifying rage.

Marcus took one look at Nico’s face and froze.

Nico didn’t say a word.

He crossed the distance in three long strides, grabbed Marcus by the collar of his tan coat, and slammed him against the side of the sedan.

The impact shook the entire car.

Marcus gasped for air, his hands flying up to pry Nico’s fingers loose.

Nico pinned him with one hand against his throat.

“If you ever,” Nico whispered, his voice like grinding stones, “come near my daughter again, I won’t call the police. I will bury you under the foundation of this house.”

Marcus choked, his eyes wide with genuine panic.

“Nico…” June whimpered from the shadows.

Nico didn’t look at her. He kept his eyes locked on Marcus.

“Empty your pockets,” Nico ordered.

Marcus frantically clawed at his coat pockets.

He pulled out the rusted safety deposit key. He dropped it on the ground.

He pulled out his phone. He dropped that too.

Then, his trembling fingers reached into his inner pocket and pulled out the silver chain.

The silver bird necklace.

Nico’s grip tightened on Marcus’s throat for a split second before he snatched the necklace away.

He shoved Marcus away in disgust.

“Get in your car,” Nico said. “Leave the city. If I see your face in Chicago again, you’re dead.”

Marcus scrambled into the driver’s seat, slammed the door, and reversed wildly over the grass to get around Nico’s SUV.

He sped off into the night.

Nico stood in the driveway, breathing heavily, staring at the silver bird in his hand.

Then he turned and walked over to where I was sitting in the gravel, holding his shaking daughter.

He dropped to his knees.

“Are you hurt?” he asked, looking at Ruby.

She shook her head against my shoulder.

He looked at me. “Did he hurt you?”

“Just my pride,” I lied, though my elbow was screaming in agony.

Nico reached out and gently pulled Ruby into his arms.

Then he looked at June, who was shrinking back against the stone pillar.

“Pack your bags, June,” Nico said coldly. “You’re leaving tonight too.”

“Nico, please,” June begged. “He blackmailed me! The charity money—”

“I’ve known about the charity money for a year,” Nico interrupted.

June stopped crying. She stared at him in shock.

I stared at him too.

“You knew?” June whispered.

“I replaced what you stole out of my own pocket so Beth’s legacy wouldn’t be ruined,” Nico said. “I kept quiet because you were Ruby’s only living family.”

He stood up, holding Ruby tight.

“But you let him walk out the door with my daughter,” Nico said. “You’re done here.”

He turned and helped me up from the gravel with his free hand.

His grip was strong and warm.

“Come inside, Hannah,” he said.

As we walked back to the house, I noticed something shining in the dirt where Marcus’s car had been.

I paused, bending down to pick it up.

It wasn’t the safety deposit key. Nico had already picked that up.

It was a small, crumpled piece of paper that must have fallen out of Marcus’s pocket when he pulled out the necklace.

I smoothed it out.

It was a child’s drawing. Stick figures drawn in bright crayon.

I recognized the artwork immediately.